To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Weather
A </
Tr
High: 85 Low: 59
Tomorrow
Sunny throughout the day with a slight breeze
Buck stops here: An experienced defensive unit is a big part of the women’s soccer team’s success, but doesn’t capture much press. sp^bts 20
Lion lovers: Animal aficionados Siegfried and Roy ham it up in the newest IMAX maeical adventure. *7
* »vi»icpe«/\tig J
DIVERSIONS
Health and Medicine 2
Off the Wire 2
Calendar 2
SComlx 8
Classifieds 16
Crossword Puzzle 17
dtrojan@usc.edu
http://www.usc.edu/dt
mill TROJAN
NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
October 20,1999 Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 36
Groups raise cancer awareness
Outreach: The Women’s Student Assembly, USC Helenes are handing vut information this week
By DANA NICHOLS
Staff Writer
In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month — which seeks to draw attention to the disease that affects one in nine American women — the Women’s
Student Assembly and USC Helenes are making efforts to garner support on campus this week.
Dana McKinney, a registered nurse at the Student Health Center, and Lori Plagen, a survivor of breast cancer, will host an informational session from noon until 2 p.m. today at Topping Student Center, Room 205.
WSA and Helenes representatives will also provide pink awareness ribbons and informational pamphlets from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tommy Trojan through Friday.
The most common form of cancer to strike women, breast cancer kills about 44,000 American women each year, according to WSA statistics.
“Even though we’re young, it’s still important,” said Amanda VanDeusen, a senior majoring in biomedical and mechanical engineering and a Helene participating in the week’s events. “It can happen to anyone.”
When detected and treated early, 92 percent of breast cancer cases are curable, according to WSA statistics. Experts encourage women older than 20 to practice monthly self breast examinations, and the American Cancer Society suggests regular mammograms every year after the age of 40, and every three years for women ages 20 to 40.
During October, various southern I see Cancer, page 12 I
USC student admits selling LSD to agents
Crime: Scott McLetchie will plead guilty to three counts of drug charges in court Monday
By JEANNE KLEIN
Assistant City Editor
USC student Scott McLetchie is scheduled to plead guilty’ on three counts of drug charges Oct. 25 after admitting Monday to selling LSD to undercover agents earlier this year, lawyers said.
McLetchie, who authorities say confessed to selling LSD to five teenagers who died in a car crash after an all-night rave, will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy of distributing LSD and two counts of selling the drug, said Chris Johnson, assistant U.S. attorney.
The senior majoring in theater allegedly sold 11,500 doses of LSD between July and August to undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Johnson said.
Authorities also said he sold 5,000 hits and 1,000 hits of the drug on separate occasions, the latter resulting in a “playground charge” since the sale was within 1,000 feet of McDonald Park in Pasadena, Johnson said.
One “hit” equals one dosage unit of LSD, which comes on a sheet of paper either dipped or sprayed with the drug, Johnson said.
Defense attorney John Meyers said McLetchie changed his plea to guilty based on legal advice.
“It was in the best interest for him,” Meyers said.
McLetchie was arrested Sept. 2 on suspicion of selling LSD to the five teens at a rave in the Angeles National Forest. He was indicted Sept. 9 with Rita Wadhwani, a USC senior majoring in literature, on charges of selling drugs to undercover agents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The most pressing piece of evidence, police said, was when McLetchie allegedly admitted to the selling of LSD to the five teens during a phone conversation in a Pasadena apartment, according to the Times. But Pedro Castillo, McLetchie’s federal public defender, argued in court that since drug agents recorded only one end of the telephone conversation, the content of it could have been taken out of context.
McLetchie was never charged with involvement in the teenagers’ deaths. According to the Times, autopsies of their bodies did not find traces of LSD.
McLetchie can now receive a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison and a fine of up to $8 million, Johnson said.
“He will never be charged in a federal court because it is not a federal crime,” Johnson said.
McLetchie w'as under investigation since February’, police said, when the DEA began examining LSD sales by USC students.
Thinking out loud
Manash Das I Daily Trojan
Sharing beliefs. Bobak Ha'Eri, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies, mans a table for Atheist Humanist and Free Thought Alliance on Tuesday.
Donations of human eggs controversial
Science: Emotional, ethical, economic and legal issues can influence participation
By FRANCESCA CIMINO
Staff Writer
We’ve all seen the ads:
Egg donors wanted. Help a couple’s dream come true...emotionally and financially rewarding.
Amid the laughter and skepticism the advertisements generate, the fundamental questions that remain are inherently bothersome and uncomfortable: Is it safe? Is it ethical? Who would even think about doing it?
) The physical effects
Health and Medicine looks at egg donation medical procedures. See page 2.
That’s exactly what Heather, a 1998 USC graduate wrho asked that her real name not be used, thought as she and two of her sorority sisters sat on the grass outside Trojan Grounds one afternoon a year ago, reading the Daily Trojan.
“(My friends and I) laughed at the ad,” Heather said. “We joked about doing it.”
Unbeknownst to her friends at the time, Heather took a second look at the generous monetary offer, as her trip to Europe the spring before had virtually left her broke.
“‘It’s a lot of money,’ (my friends) said. ‘It would solve all your problems,’” Heather said.
It was not long before she was seriously asking herself, “What if I really did do it?”
Heather called several of the advertised phone numbers to get preliminary information about the process. After talking to a few7 representatives, she decided to begin the lengthy process with a privately owned egg donation program run by Shelley Smith.
“At first, 1 didn’t know how I felt about it,” Heather said. “I finally realized that it was going to help me and that it would help someone else.”
Not just for the money
Smith, who wras originally lured to the L.A area by a role in a TV series about 20 years ago, changed careers after she lost her first child because of a genetic complication shortly after he was born. Unable to reconcile her loss, she went back to school to obtain a master’s degree in psychology and became a licensed marriage, child and family counselor. Shortly thereafter, she began the Egg Donor Program, which locates and screens egg donors.
I see Donations, page 14 I
Chu sentenced to 10 years in prison
Former USC student Linda Chu was sentenced Friday to 10 years in state prison for killing her newborn baby in 1997.
Under a plea agreement, 22-year-old Chu will serve five of the 10 years, said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Slavitt, adding that he did not know where or when she would enter prison.
A campus maintenance worker found Chu’s newborn child dumped at the bottom of a trash chute in Century Apartments on May 7, 1997, when Chu was a sophomore majoring in business.
She was arrested a month later while on summer break at her home in Illinois. She was later extradited to Los Angeles.
Chu pleaded guilty on Friday to felony child endangerment charges and admit-
ted to a special allegation that she was responsible for her daughter’s death.
At a pretrial hearing in December 1997, evidence was presented that Chu’s baby was alive at birth and then strangled. Chu kept her pregnancy a secret and delivered the child in her apartment shower.
On Feb. 18,1999, she pleaded no contest to child abuse charges. Had she been convicted, she would have faced serving 25 years to life in prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Slavitt said the plea deal came as a surprise.
“She didn’t enter (the plea deal) until right before trial,” he said. “We were prepared to go to trial.”
Chu’s defense attorney Shawn Chapman
could not be reached for comment.
Slavitt said he believes that justice has been served.
“It’s really a substantial sentence for her,” he said. “She comes from a prhileged background, a sheltered background.” There is a possibility' that Chu could complete her college education while in prison, but it is not part of the agreement, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office.
“She had the whole world in front of her,” Gibbons said. “For a young woman who previously had not been incarcerated, the sentence will be hard to serve.”
— Jennifer Kelleher, Assistant City Editor

Weather
A
Tr
High: 85 Low: 59
Tomorrow
Sunny throughout the day with a slight breeze
Buck stops here: An experienced defensive unit is a big part of the women’s soccer team’s success, but doesn’t capture much press. sp^bts 20
Lion lovers: Animal aficionados Siegfried and Roy ham it up in the newest IMAX maeical adventure. *7
* »vi»icpe«/\tig J
DIVERSIONS
Health and Medicine 2
Off the Wire 2
Calendar 2
SComlx 8
Classifieds 16
Crossword Puzzle 17
dtrojan@usc.edu
http://www.usc.edu/dt
mill TROJAN
NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
October 20,1999 Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 36
Groups raise cancer awareness
Outreach: The Women’s Student Assembly, USC Helenes are handing vut information this week
By DANA NICHOLS
Staff Writer
In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month — which seeks to draw attention to the disease that affects one in nine American women — the Women’s
Student Assembly and USC Helenes are making efforts to garner support on campus this week.
Dana McKinney, a registered nurse at the Student Health Center, and Lori Plagen, a survivor of breast cancer, will host an informational session from noon until 2 p.m. today at Topping Student Center, Room 205.
WSA and Helenes representatives will also provide pink awareness ribbons and informational pamphlets from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tommy Trojan through Friday.
The most common form of cancer to strike women, breast cancer kills about 44,000 American women each year, according to WSA statistics.
“Even though we’re young, it’s still important,” said Amanda VanDeusen, a senior majoring in biomedical and mechanical engineering and a Helene participating in the week’s events. “It can happen to anyone.”
When detected and treated early, 92 percent of breast cancer cases are curable, according to WSA statistics. Experts encourage women older than 20 to practice monthly self breast examinations, and the American Cancer Society suggests regular mammograms every year after the age of 40, and every three years for women ages 20 to 40.
During October, various southern I see Cancer, page 12 I
USC student admits selling LSD to agents
Crime: Scott McLetchie will plead guilty to three counts of drug charges in court Monday
By JEANNE KLEIN
Assistant City Editor
USC student Scott McLetchie is scheduled to plead guilty’ on three counts of drug charges Oct. 25 after admitting Monday to selling LSD to undercover agents earlier this year, lawyers said.
McLetchie, who authorities say confessed to selling LSD to five teenagers who died in a car crash after an all-night rave, will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy of distributing LSD and two counts of selling the drug, said Chris Johnson, assistant U.S. attorney.
The senior majoring in theater allegedly sold 11,500 doses of LSD between July and August to undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Johnson said.
Authorities also said he sold 5,000 hits and 1,000 hits of the drug on separate occasions, the latter resulting in a “playground charge” since the sale was within 1,000 feet of McDonald Park in Pasadena, Johnson said.
One “hit” equals one dosage unit of LSD, which comes on a sheet of paper either dipped or sprayed with the drug, Johnson said.
Defense attorney John Meyers said McLetchie changed his plea to guilty based on legal advice.
“It was in the best interest for him,” Meyers said.
McLetchie was arrested Sept. 2 on suspicion of selling LSD to the five teens at a rave in the Angeles National Forest. He was indicted Sept. 9 with Rita Wadhwani, a USC senior majoring in literature, on charges of selling drugs to undercover agents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The most pressing piece of evidence, police said, was when McLetchie allegedly admitted to the selling of LSD to the five teens during a phone conversation in a Pasadena apartment, according to the Times. But Pedro Castillo, McLetchie’s federal public defender, argued in court that since drug agents recorded only one end of the telephone conversation, the content of it could have been taken out of context.
McLetchie was never charged with involvement in the teenagers’ deaths. According to the Times, autopsies of their bodies did not find traces of LSD.
McLetchie can now receive a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison and a fine of up to $8 million, Johnson said.
“He will never be charged in a federal court because it is not a federal crime,” Johnson said.
McLetchie w'as under investigation since February’, police said, when the DEA began examining LSD sales by USC students.
Thinking out loud
Manash Das I Daily Trojan
Sharing beliefs. Bobak Ha'Eri, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies, mans a table for Atheist Humanist and Free Thought Alliance on Tuesday.
Donations of human eggs controversial
Science: Emotional, ethical, economic and legal issues can influence participation
By FRANCESCA CIMINO
Staff Writer
We’ve all seen the ads:
Egg donors wanted. Help a couple’s dream come true...emotionally and financially rewarding.
Amid the laughter and skepticism the advertisements generate, the fundamental questions that remain are inherently bothersome and uncomfortable: Is it safe? Is it ethical? Who would even think about doing it?
) The physical effects
Health and Medicine looks at egg donation medical procedures. See page 2.
That’s exactly what Heather, a 1998 USC graduate wrho asked that her real name not be used, thought as she and two of her sorority sisters sat on the grass outside Trojan Grounds one afternoon a year ago, reading the Daily Trojan.
“(My friends and I) laughed at the ad,” Heather said. “We joked about doing it.”
Unbeknownst to her friends at the time, Heather took a second look at the generous monetary offer, as her trip to Europe the spring before had virtually left her broke.
“‘It’s a lot of money,’ (my friends) said. ‘It would solve all your problems,’” Heather said.
It was not long before she was seriously asking herself, “What if I really did do it?”
Heather called several of the advertised phone numbers to get preliminary information about the process. After talking to a few7 representatives, she decided to begin the lengthy process with a privately owned egg donation program run by Shelley Smith.
“At first, 1 didn’t know how I felt about it,” Heather said. “I finally realized that it was going to help me and that it would help someone else.”
Not just for the money
Smith, who wras originally lured to the L.A area by a role in a TV series about 20 years ago, changed careers after she lost her first child because of a genetic complication shortly after he was born. Unable to reconcile her loss, she went back to school to obtain a master’s degree in psychology and became a licensed marriage, child and family counselor. Shortly thereafter, she began the Egg Donor Program, which locates and screens egg donors.
I see Donations, page 14 I
Chu sentenced to 10 years in prison
Former USC student Linda Chu was sentenced Friday to 10 years in state prison for killing her newborn baby in 1997.
Under a plea agreement, 22-year-old Chu will serve five of the 10 years, said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Slavitt, adding that he did not know where or when she would enter prison.
A campus maintenance worker found Chu’s newborn child dumped at the bottom of a trash chute in Century Apartments on May 7, 1997, when Chu was a sophomore majoring in business.
She was arrested a month later while on summer break at her home in Illinois. She was later extradited to Los Angeles.
Chu pleaded guilty on Friday to felony child endangerment charges and admit-
ted to a special allegation that she was responsible for her daughter’s death.
At a pretrial hearing in December 1997, evidence was presented that Chu’s baby was alive at birth and then strangled. Chu kept her pregnancy a secret and delivered the child in her apartment shower.
On Feb. 18,1999, she pleaded no contest to child abuse charges. Had she been convicted, she would have faced serving 25 years to life in prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Slavitt said the plea deal came as a surprise.
“She didn’t enter (the plea deal) until right before trial,” he said. “We were prepared to go to trial.”
Chu’s defense attorney Shawn Chapman
could not be reached for comment.
Slavitt said he believes that justice has been served.
“It’s really a substantial sentence for her,” he said. “She comes from a prhileged background, a sheltered background.” There is a possibility' that Chu could complete her college education while in prison, but it is not part of the agreement, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office.
“She had the whole world in front of her,” Gibbons said. “For a young woman who previously had not been incarcerated, the sentence will be hard to serve.”
— Jennifer Kelleher, Assistant City Editor